Jobless growth in India: President at St Stephen’s
NEW DELHI: Emphasising the importance of research and innovation, President Pranab Mukherjee said Indian education institutions need to take international ranking process seriously.
Mukherjee said that despite having numerous education institutions with good faculty and students, Indian colleges have not been able to figure prominently in lists brought out by international rating agencies.
“Every educational congregation that I have attended has emphasised that Indian institutions should take the ranking process seriously in order to find place in the top ranks in reports by international rating agencies. I was told these institutions don’t fill the information sought by these agencies in the right format,” he said.
The President was speaking at the 135 Founder’s Day of St Stephen’s College on Wednesday.
Talking about the challenges the country is facing, the President said mere statistical GDP growth is not satisfactory. “India is witnessing a jobless growth. Last year’s employment generation was the lowest in seven years. Mere statistical growth of GDP is not satisfactory,” he said.
The President said around 350 million people in the country do not have access to electricity. “We need to provide them electricity. We need to solve this energy crisis without disturbing the environment,” he said.
He said that a huge chunk of population in the country is young who should be provided with skills and training.
“Only if we provide our youth with the necessary skills, education and training, we can ensure that the world job market will be available to them. Otherwise, the demographic dividend would turn into a liability,” he said.
The President said he is happy that a large number of universities are focusing on innovation.
“Every year a Festival of Innovations is held at Rashtrapati Bhavan to encourage grass root innovations which could solve problems of day-to-day life,” he said.